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How the Grinch Stole Christmas

The Grinch tries to stop Christmas from arriving by stealing all the presents and food from the village, but much to his surprise it comes anyway. Includes commentary and notes about the author and the story.

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Oh-oh!..... (To be sure) - Those naive and trusting Whos down in Whoville are, once again, in for some real big-big trouble this year.

'Cause (while those unsuspecting Whos are all merrily off in Dreamland) that mean, old Mister Grinch (of the smallest heart and the slimiest green) is gonna invade their peaceful village and, literally, steal Christmas right out from under their cute, little pug-noses. Yep. He sure is.

Oh. Boo-ho!.... And, what are those poor Whos gonna do?.... Well - Have no fear - Dr. Suess is gonna see to it that all turns out for the very best (with a joyous happy ending, too).

Christmas is a dreaded holiday for many. People claim that it has become commercialized, that people should act year round the way they do on Christmas, and that Christmas comes too early ever year, despite having a set date. When did people start despising Christmas? How did Christmas, a holiday about togetherness, get to a point of being allowed to be despised?
"How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr. Seuss. It is a story about a lonely bitter green creature, specific genus unknown, who hates Christmas for some clandestine reason. Plausibly, it is that his heart is two sizes too small, but there may be a confusion of cause and effect in that theory. Upon reading the Grinch, I couldn't help asking philosophy's greatest question: Why? Why is it that a children's story over a half century old has remained such a dominate Christmas theme? Many would argue that the story of Christmas changing the heart of someone surly and old is simply "magical", but there are countless stories with this plot, some of them true stories, that don't need to misspell words for their rhyming scheme. Yet, with the exception of A Christmas Carol, no holiday story remains as prevalent.

There are many magical verses throughout the story. I can't help but smirk at "Little Cindy Loo Who, who was no more than two" but this is not consistent throughout the book. The story of the Grinch begins and ends rather abruptly, and if read carefully the fact that the Doctor seems overly vague becomes obvious. What is Dr. Seuss's idea of the "true meaning of Christmas"? When compared to the other Seuss works like "The Lorax", "Horton Hears Who", and "Oh the Places You'll Go", the Grinch seems to lack the direct meaning found in these other stories. Yet it is the Grinch story that has the power to strike the human heart so deeply that I have seen gown men holding back tears after a particular good reading of the story aloud. Most everybody knows the story, and those who don't would still recognize the infamous "And then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before ...” Literary silver bells ring loud, but what does it tell us about Christmas today?

The Grinch views the world the way many of us see it, whether consciously or not. The blame is not entirely on the Grinch, as people smile and act happy on the outside, especially on Christmas. To exacerbate this, feelings of loneliness, rejection, and pointlessness seem shockingly prevalent in today’s world, and most people don’t make it through life untouched by these emotions. It is no coincidence these feelings tend to magnify in the month of December. How frustrating it must be that a holiday about togetherness, acceptance, love, and purpose too often becomes a mockery of these gifts. Surely the Grinch felt this frustration, evident as he was driven to lie to a small child and commit grand theft larceny. But perhaps we have stumbled on the answer.

As the Grinch stood on the top of Mt. Crumpet, his head seething with wonderfully awful ideas about the misery that would soon befall the Whos of Who-Ville, he could not have known in just three hours he would see Christmas, as it truly is, for the first time. He discovered something that day, and it wasn't just that Christmas doesn't come from a store; it was that all this time it was the distortion of the values of Christmas that blinded him to its true meaning: building togetherness, offering acceptance, presenting love, and giving purpose. These are the things our hearts hunger for the most, and I would guess that the Grinch's heart didn't grow quite so large simply because the Whos sang a song, but because it at last saw evidence of greater meaning. No material item, or bitterness long held on to, is worth the understanding of how to love one another.

This is a great book to read the kids before bed! Naturally, this classic has stood the test of time, and the message is still meaningful today. The rhyme is fun and enjoyable and the characters cherished. This is a great Christmas read!

i remeber in 2001 i watched this movie at school in the gym everyone watched it in the gym i didn't like that movie to much but once again i had to watch it and yes again the light were turned off but there were some funny parts in the movie like how he took the onean and scrached himself now that is a funny part to watch those who didn't watch it yet but i'm sure you did on t.v of coruse cause it's on t.v on abc every year .